On the western banks of Poway’s Twin Peaks overlooking Pomerado Hospital, long-ago memories of childhood, days on the farm and time spent in the garden sift through the dementia.

Sunshine Care is an assisted-living facility for people who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Most of the 50 residents are elderly, and many are just shells of what they once were.

But twice each month, about 10 of the most lucid interact with children who come with their parents to participate in a garden club. The residents and the youngsters work together inside the facility’s greenhouse planting seedlings or in some of the organic gardens or fruit orchards that are planted throughout the 32-acre property.

“We strongly believe the combination of young children with the folks with dementia is just a really important thing for both groups,” said Michelle Andreasen, executive director of Sunshine Care. “The residents respond so well to the kids. I think it makes so much difference in the lives of the children and our residents.”

Andreasen said many of the residents grew up on farms or were active gardners at some point in their lives.

Long-term memory is what lasts the longest in dementia patients. They have difficulty remembering recent events but often can recall their youth with clarity.

The gardening concept, combined with an intergenerational interaction program, was the dream of the facility’s owner, Sam Stelletello.

Christina Gigliotti, supervisor of the community health program at the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, wrote her dissertation on horticulture therapy for Alzheimer’s patients. She said research shows that gardening offers many advantages for dementia sufferers.

“There are physical benefits, a way to motivate them to exercise and refine motor skills,” said Gigliotti, whose center is part of the University of California San Diego. “It can activate memory and might allow them to engage in storytelling or reminiscing about the past.”

It also provides an opportunity for the patient to do something meaningful, even if it’s as mundane as holding a hose. “Humans need to feel needed,” Gigliotti said.

She has studied various intergenerational projects, but the Sunshine Care setup is the first time she has heard of horticultural and intergenerational programs being done together.

“That could be a great combination,” she said.

“My mom passed away two years ago,” says Roy Wilburn, 53, Sunshine Care’s director of horticultural operations. “She suffered from Alzheimer’s. … My mom had a green thumb. Had she been in a place like this instead of where she was at …”

Wilburn has worked at the facility for just six weeks, but says he’s impressed by the operation. He spent two decades in Mexico as a grower, which he said gives him a wide-ranging perspective.

“I think they have an awesome concept here,” Wilburn said.

On Thursday, Marianne Shepherd of 4S Ranch came to the garden with her two children, Devon, 4, and Aubrey, 3. The family has been participating in the garden club for more than two years. On this day, the children helped with some chores such as weeding the green beans.

“It’s just for the kids to have fun,” she said. “They get to pick fruits and vegetables and plant seeds with the grandmas and the grandpas.”

In 2009, Sunshine Care’s gardens and orchards produced more than 5,000 pounds of organic produce that was eaten by the residents or donated to charity.

Lisa Lipsey, activity director at Sunshine Care, said the garden club “gives our residents a unique reason to be out in the fresh air, enjoy nature, exercise, build friendships and teach skills to young people.”

The group meets every other Thursday and has held fresh-fruit smoothie parties, tomato tastings, sessions for making fresh-cut floral arrangements, a visit to a local farm and pumpkin patch for a hay ride, and a day for creating Thanksgiving cornucopias.